Simon Says is the oldest party game there is, and it still works because everyone already knows the rules: do what Simon says, and do not move when he doesn’t. Grandparents know it, five-year-olds know it, and nobody needs a tutorial. What it has always needed is a fair Simon — someone who isn’t also trying to play, who doesn’t go easy on the youngest, and who actually notices when Dad twitched. CamPlay’s Simon Says gives you that Simon: a webcam that watches every player, a caller that never plays favourites, and live multiplayer for up to eight people, all free in a browser.
How it plays
A voice shouts a command — jump, duck, lean left, lean right or run — and a ring counts down. If the command started with “Simon says”, you do it before the ring closes. If it didn’t, you freeze, because moving on a fake command gets you caught. Roughly one command in four is a fake, and the real and fake shouts are delivered identically, so you have to actually listen. Every round the window gets shorter, from three and a half seconds down to a second and a half, until the jumps and ducks come thick and fast.
Your webcam does the judging with on-device pose tracking. It is upper-body based, so you only need to stand about a metre from the screen, and the camera picture never leaves your device — only the moves (jump, duck, lean) are shared with other players. How that works is in how CamPlay tracks your body without uploading video.
Why it works so well as a family game
- Everyone already knows the rules. No reading, no button layouts, no “which one is X?” — a four-year-old and an eighty-year-old start on equal footing.
- The referee is fair. The camera doesn’t care who’s winning. The child who caught Grandpa moving gets to be right, and it settles arguments instantly.
- It’s physical without being a workout. Jumps, ducks and short jogs in quick bursts get hearts pumping and everyone laughing, without anyone needing to be fit. Kids burn off energy; adults get more movement than an evening on the sofa.
- Short rounds. A game lasts a few minutes, so there is always time for “one more” and nobody is stuck waiting long after they’re out.
- Nobody loses unfairly to lag. Every player receives the exact same sequence of commands, and each player is judged on their own device, so a slow connection can’t get you eliminated. If everyone misses a round, nobody is knocked out and the round is replayed with a new command.
Playing together in the same room
Each camera tracks one person, so for a live multiplayer game every player needs their own screen with a webcam — a couple of laptops on the dining table works well. With only one computer, play solo in turns: each person takes a run and the family competes for the longest streak, which is just as competitive and often funnier to watch.
- Give each player a clear metre or so in front of their screen, and move anything breakable.
- Face the light. A bright window behind you is the most common reason a camera loses track of someone.
- Stay in frame. A player the camera can’t see for more than a moment is out — it keeps everyone honest about stepping away.
- Turn the volume up. Hearing whether Simon said it is half the game.
Playing with family far away
This is where online Simon Says really shines. Grandparents in another city, cousins abroad, a parent travelling for work — anyone with a laptop and a webcam can join the same game. One person opens a room and shares the room code over the family chat; everyone else enters it and lands in the same lobby. When the game starts, everyone gets the same commands at the same moment and watches each other get eliminated live.
It pairs naturally with a video call running on a phone or a second device, so you can see and hear each other’s reactions. And if the person hosting drops out — a flaky connection, a toddler pulling a cable — the game doesn’t end: hosting passes automatically to another player and the round carries on.
A family game night playlist
Simon Says is the best opener, but CamPlay has four more games that all support the same multiplayer rooms of up to eight players:
- Red Light, Green Light — the natural follow-up to Simon Says: run on green, freeze on red, eliminated the moment the camera catches you moving.
- Dino Dodge — last one standing in a dinosaur stampede; kids love it.
- Rune Run — a jogging race where everyone runs the same course; good for burning off the last of the energy before bed.
- Ski Slalom — lean to carve, squat to tuck; a calmer race to end on.
Beyond family night
The same things that make it work at home — known rules, a fair referee, short rounds, no equipment — make it a good classroom energizer, a team warm-up for remote meetings, or a birthday-party game when it’s raining outside. If you are wondering whether a few rounds actually count as exercise, we looked at the research in do active video games count as real exercise?. Looking for more indie games you play with your body? Start with our guide to free indie webcam games.